Ercouper
Standard Bore
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2025
- Messages
- 2
- Ride
- 2005 R3, 1996 Goldwing, 1995 Virago
A few weeks ago I was looking for a bike project in an attempt to fight boredom in retirement and saw an '05 R-III on Craigslist. It had been partially disassembled by the owner who was investigating "a tick" in the motor. Upon getting it home, I discovered that as the crank was turned it would hesitate as #2 piston reached TDC as if it was hitting something. I took the head off to find metal embedded in the head and the top of the piston. Being a cheap guy on limited income, I took a dremel tool with a sanding disk and carefully sanded the head and piston crown until nothing protruded from either. The cylinder wall was fine, as were the valves and seats. I cleaned the head gasket, sprayed it with a few coats of copper coat and put the head back on. Spent $50 on some shims to set the valve clearances & made a cam holding tool out of a piece of angle and two 1/4" bolts. Upon assembly I discovered what had happened.... The tinnerman style nut that resides on fuel rail above #2 intake was missing. I believe that, in the process of either taking the air box off or putting it back on, it got dislodged and fell into the intake. Anyway, the R3 now runs & sounds great. I've always had Japanese bikes and this is my first English bike and am enjoying it a lot. Just thought I'd share my story......